As much as we adore the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, there's a lesser-known and considerably more entertaining portion of the show: the Tour d'Elegance. Where as the councours gives onlookers a chance to take in some of the world's most rare and valuable cars as the machines sit parked on the lush green of the Pebble Beach golf course, the tour shows off the entrants as they were meant to be enjoyed. Those owners willingly hop behind the wheel and fire up their engines for a quick jaunt down 17 Mile Drive and the Pacific Coast Highway.

Let us be the first to tell you that there's nothing like the experience of seeing, hearing and feeling these cars as they saunter their way up Highway 1. Led by Sir Stirling Moss in a Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster, the tour featured a hefty number of original Shelby Cobra models. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the snake that Carroll built, and as such, the V8 British-American half-breed is one of the featured models of the 2012 concours. Saturday will see 45 Cobra racers take to Laguna Seca to go fender to fender. Stay tuned. In the meantime, check out a quick video of some of the participants on the course below.